NJ Drivers Love to Share Their #RoadRage on Social Media

New Jersey does a lot of things right — diners, pork roll and a hard-to-beat shoreline, for example. But one thing we just can't get down is traffic.

And it shows in a new analysis from Auto Insurance Center. The group tracked over 100,000 Instagram posts since 2011 that were tagged with the hashtag #RoadRage to better understand where and when drivers are more likely to get frustrated behind the wheel.

While some states didn't even have enough of these posts to qualify for the study, New Jersey's post count consistently ranks among the top 10, year after year. According to the analysis, New Jersey spawned the fifth-most #RageRoad posts since 2013. More posts were tracked only in New York, the District of Columbia, Nevada and Nebraska.

From January through May 2017, New Jersey's #RoadRage posts ranked sixth among the states. New Jersey ranked fourth in 2016 and fifth in 2015.

Cathleen Lewis, director of public affairs for AAA Northeast and a New Jersey resident, said the state's ranking comes as no surprise.

"Congested roadways, crumbling infrastructure — all of those things lead to frustration on roadways," Lewis said. "And you're going to see that frustration on social media and unfortunately in more road rage incidents."

(AutoInsuranceCenter.com)

If your road rage happens to be triggered by another motorist's actions — rather than traffic or construction — Lewis advises "don't engage."

"No good comes from engaging another driver while you're on the roadway together. Don't ever get out of the car. Don't start exchanging words or other gestures at people," she said. "Take a breath, realize that there literally is nothing that you yourself can do about it at this moment, and then continue to be a safe and courteous driver, and hope by those actions, others start to do that too."

The #RoadRage analysis found Friday was the most popular day of the week for posts from angry drivers.

May was the most popular month for #RoadRage posts between 2013 and 2017.

The most common time of day for these posts was in the late evening hours between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., which suggests many motorists are at least waiting to vent on social media when they're no longer driving.